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09 May 2006

Bright & Dangerous Desserts

In grade school our cafeteria had the entire month's lunches posted in a calendar-menu on the door to the kitchen. When I see this on refrigerators I get nostalgic. Not for New York City hot lunch tater-tots or tiny cartons of chocolate milk, but for the orderly-ness of it.

And I wish I'd kept all those multi-colored sporks.

Professional kitchens are never as spontaneous as they make the diner feel they are. Even when a restaurant "changes the menu daily" food and dishes are recycled, or put on a rotation so as to change things up and rearrange ingredients. Menu writing is an art with much rope in play for poetic license.

At The French Laundry, Thomas sat down with all the cooks at the end of every night's service to discuss the next days menu. Cooks vied for ingredients and sous chefs placed orders. If the poissoniere wanted English peas and said so before the canape station spoke up, they were his. Thomas wanted the courses to have as few repeats as possible.

But because kitchens needs to order most ingredients well in advance, we all had some idea of what was going to be on the menu from one day to the next. Unlike working for Apple we were not sworn to secrecy, but all worked the illusion of pulling perfectly butchered rabbits out of hats.

In my latest consulting job I need to come up with simple, straightforward desserts which rate low on the maintenance scale. It reminds me a bit of Bouchon where I had to create dishes which could be plated swiftly and easily, as garde manger was responsible for plating desserts after I left. What I figured out was that all the finesse; the internal beauty of the dessert needed to be in the method, the ingredients, the soul of the food. No fancy tuile flourishes, no tiny dots of sauce or baked-to-order cakes.

God is in the details.

When Thomas placed me at Bouchon he explained that anybody can wow a diner with food they don't recognize. Fantastical creations with disparate ingredients can surprise and delight (or dismay) but they don't trigger our body's memory of what "it should taste like." He explained to me on the deck of his house that what I was being asked to do at Bouchon was much harder than I might know.

"Creating the same simple lemon tart day after day, week after week, making it perfect and continuously consistent, this would be the challenge. Because people will come back for it again and again and need it to be what they know a lemon tart to be."

What I strive to do in my work is to listen to the ingredients, understand their properties and allow them to speak for themselves in their own voices, their own languages. Lemon desserts should be tart and strong. Melons should melt in your mouth, give you little to bite down on, seduce you with their musk. Peaches should make you blush with their generosity: hours later, in your elbow, you should discover mysterious stickiness, but you will not be limber enough to lick it away. Corn should make you remember childhood summers. Salt should have distinctive characteristics, and always be present in the company of chocolate & caramel. Whipped cream should remind you of cumulus clouds and fresh herbs should be accents which complement and compliment.

It's refreshing to be at a job making simple pretty frosted cakes, challenging to re-organize a kitchen's (and clientele's) way of viewing sweets, and exciting to be standing there as summer fruit approaches. I hope you'll stop by Poulet, a 27 year old, quirky, unpretentious deli ~ restaurant and have a taste of our kitchen's offerings.

And whether you have had my desserts or not I think you'll find both familiar and surprise alike!

What a lovely post, I enjoyed the idea that the simple, familiar, and expected things are sometimes the hardest to pull off. It is so true. Each version is compared back to the memory of the best one we ever had.

What a beautiful and lucious way you have with words. Yum. And, I feel in reading about your desserts that I not only want to eat them but meet them. What extraordinary people they are. They stay in my mind long after I leave them.

The perfect snickerdoodle should be moist in the middle, have crunchy edges, not be too sweet, and have a crumb that's tender but not chewy. One should roll it in a lot of cinnamon and start with a mound, not a disk. I think they're best with strong Earl Grey tea.

Chubby--- when I'm there just ask for me and I will come out for a hello. I can generally be found there Wednesday & Thursdays with the occasional Friday or Monday thrown in.

Kelley--

so wonderful to find your own well put words here!

I do feel this way about ingredients-- like I am trying to understand their personalities. Not merely use them, but work WITH them.

Shuna, back when I went to school and later worked a few blocks up the hill from Poulet I was there all the time. I have yet to match their meatloaf sandwich--I love that place! I've spent many an afternoon, many a work lunch, and many a day wishing I could get there for whatever yummy thing was on the menu. With your desserts on the menu, I imagine I'd never leave. Thanks for a great post.

I AM STANDING HERE BESIDE MYSELF, I am SO F-ING excited, I may have to take the day off and drag my girlfriend out of the office to Poulet- finally SHUNAS DESSERTS....we are not worthy, truly...I am so happy happy day...

Hey, hurray! I will stop in sometime very soon! I'm still a new Berkeley resident myself, so am always happy for an excuse to explore!
And I am so excited about summer fruits! Strawberry rhubarb, yum.
Susannochka

I'm so glad I came by to say hello and get some of your delish baked goods while you were at work which also allowed me to get some of that (not yet in the display case) carmel cake.
The Snickerdoodle was far from the normal doughy gob you get at most cafes and that lemon cream...WOW. That was my fave.

I'm very excited to think that when we're in the Bay area on vacation this summer, we can stop in at Poulet for a meal and some of Shuna's delightful desserts. This post exemplifies just the sort of desserts I like best, and the kind that I always want and try to make. They are homey yet innovative, and are never cloying. Their simplicity and use of excellent ingredients makes them always refreshing on the palate. They leave you wanting just a little more, especially the next day...

Garrett--- Davis is not that far away you know... As for the cookie-- add orange zest and poppy seeds to your favourite shortbread recipe. This way you will be able to taste both those delectible ingredients.

Susan-- be sure to say hello and/or post here what you liked & didn't like... welcome to the East Bay!

Chubby-- it was sweet to see you as well. Thanks for stopping in. I will be making more of that lemon cream next week.

Julie-- you get the headline prize! Laurie Colwin it is. When you come this summer be sure to tell me who you are so I can give you a free sweet for your correct guess.

I second Katie's comments on your exceptional writing. I appreciate the glimpse into life in a professional kitchen, and the wisdom behind your food philosophy. Oh, and I sure wouldn't mind a slice of that caramel cake!

Yes, yes, and yes. With such lovely thoughts about what goes into your kitchen, what comes out can only be marvelous. I'll be up in the city next month and will be sure to put Poulet on my itinerary! In the mean time I'm looking forward to reading more....

I fell off the Eat Local Challenge wagon and popped into Poulet yesterday for a taste of your lemon cream. I would have waited until June, but feared you would be off and running with summer fruit by then and lemons would be long gone.

All I can say is, WOW, you do not fool around. I was with a friend and as soon as I started eating I simply could no longer carry on a conversation. The world got very quiet and intensely lemony all of a sudden. I really didn't know lemon cream could be so good.